Vladamir Mayakovsky was the greatest of the early 20th-centuary Russian "Futurist" poets. For The Voice was a compilation of his most-quoted poetry, made in collaberation with bookmaker El Lissitzky. The book itself can be considered an art-object. The use of a thumb index so that poems could be found quickly is an ingenious touch. Mayakovsky was a great poet, but the poems included here do not in my opinion fully exhibit his talent. This is because most of them were written as pro-Bolshevik revolutionary propaganda, and meant primarily for agitation of the proletariat, rather then casual reading enjoyment. As a result some of the statements ie. "..We'll break history's horse./By the Left!/Left!/Left!.." seem a little less inspired, and more outdated then Mayakovsky's other work. He was still a genious, though, and this book is well worth the money. This edition consists of three volumes - the facsimilie, the translation, and a collection of very interesting essays and facts about Mayakovsky and Lissitzky (one section of which is a great help in understanding the poems at a deeper level).. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Mayakovsky, Russia, or avante-garde bookmaking/artwork. For anyone else - FIRST look at some of Mayakovsky's other poetry..a lot can be found online...and maybe his other books, then come back to this one. His long poem, "A Cloud in Trousers" is highly recommended. Sad note : Mayakovsky felt so oppressed by the soviet society he wrote propaganda for, so tired of his poetic voice being stifled, and so dissapointed in romance, that he shot himself dead in 1930, aged 36.

Back in 1992, I was in New York to attend the exhibition "The Great Utopia" which was held in Guggenheim. The show was a dreamland for the soviet art of the twenties still not known as it should be. Moved by the great amaze the exhibition made over me, I looked for the editor Jaap Rietmann who had made an almost out-of-print fac-similar version of the historical book Dlia Golossa by Maiakovsky with El Lissitsky's graphic design. I was not successful. Mr Rietmann said me that this was a very expensive book and he discontinued. Years later, I made a contact with the excellent work of Mrs. Patricia Railing, one of the most gifted analysers of the period, in my opinion. She has not only a great inside information about the subject but held the courage to accept the challenge and publish this and others precious titles of the russian avant-garde. Books such as History of 2 squares (also listed here in Amazon), 32 Drawings by Kasimir Malevitch and others, as well as essays in various publications (Leonardo and others). Patricia Railing is one of these people who is so much dedicated to a subject to the point it makes the researcher go beyond any obstacle. The book is simply great, very well edited and - I must warn - hold it! because maybe another chance will not arise.

I do not agree with the reader above completely. The book is definately hot stuff and you won't find this kind of opinion readily available ... but the foreign policy of the US could have been more structured.

5 star just for being really out there! You will not find this type of writing in English anywhere! A month ago books on Iraq were old. Now there are some 20 titles written in the last 3 weeks. This is not the case with this book (russian copyright 2002).
"A humanitarian .... hero of his people ... loved by the masses .." yep, this is writen about Saddam in this book and darn well backed up with some uneasy facts and startling analysis. This book is for everyone who has been outraged by the blatant, vile right wing media propaganda following Gulf War 2. And what is most interesting that the author deals with post Saddam scenarios and is accurate to the millimeter ...and this was written last year!

The material contained in the textbook presents and discusses recent developments, but also important statistical (learning theory) concepts such as model selection, regularisation etc, in a unifying manner.
Although the authors are somewhat biased towards kernel methods, support vector machines in particular, they discuss the applicability and performance of other methods (neural networks, fuzzy systems, etc.). This is to be commended, as there are not many books that discuss all such methods in a common framework.
This book is highly recommended to readers wishing to gain a good understanding of the most significant statistical and other methods being applied in industry, and continuously experiencing significant academic research. A set of very good references (some mandatory and well known in the research community) presented at the end of each chapter directs the reader to some very useful material and scientific publications. This is a book that will particularly appeal to the research/academic community.

This book is excellent and easy to study. Graduate students will find the book statistical learning theory and support vector machines(SVMs),especially learning system based on recent advances in machine learning and multiobjective optimization. This book describes the Vapnik and Chervonenkis(VC) theory's generalization abilities. For statisticians, Applied mathematician, mechanical engineers and most graduate student are interested in reading this book. This is a very good excellent reference!!

This book by Kayta Arnold is a book which lends itself to discussions on animals relationships to other animals. Will the puppy discover which animal says meow? Children will enjoy the animal sounds and the bright illustrations.

I first read this book to my two and a half year old son in the library. We both laughed so hard I was looking for the "shushing" librarian. I had fun because my son had fun. We both had SOOO much fun I had to go out and buy it so we can do it again whenever we want. I say do it again, because it is like a game you want to play over and over.

Perhaps regrettably obscured behind Nabokov's famous novels and even his Lectures on Russian Literature and his controversial work on Eugene Onegin lies this short critical biography of Nikolai Gogol. The main thrust of the book is to portray Gogol as a masterful, if troubled and inconsistent, writer whose work is valuable not at all for its portrayal of Russia or for any seeming advocacy of social change, but rather exclusively for its artistic merit. Nabokov takes us rather briskly through Gogol's youth and his earlier works; provides detailed, quote-filled discussions of The Inspector General and the first volume of Dead Souls; summarizes the last ten years of Gogol's life, during which he attempted to write the second volume of Dead Souls but saw his artistic creativity fading; and gives a short exposition of Gogol's most famous short story, "The Overcoat."

Nabokov's essays on The Inspector General, Dead Souls, and "The Overcoat" are all quite illuminating and entertaining. He escorts us through each work, discussing the numerous ways in which each innovatively reflects Gogol's unique and charming quirks, and including, with annotations, numerous passages (each translated by Nabokov himself) which demonstrate Gogol's excellent prose. His emphasis is not at all on the plots of the works (which he only grudgingly included at the end of the book at the request of his publisher) but rather on their style, which he successfully shows to be a much more fundamental aspect of Gogol's works than any satire that one may choose to read in to them.

At times, though, it seems that Nabokov gets a little too caught up in his own dogma. Most critics nowadays would agree with Nabokov that Gogol was much more important as an artist than as a social commentator, but it's pushing it awfully far to say, as Nabokov does, that Dead Souls is no more authentically a tale about Russia than Hamlet is authentically about Denmark. Also, Nabokov confines almost all of his attention to just three works, which put together, if memory serves, wouldn't come to much more than 300 pages. He dismisses Gogol's numerous Ukrainian tales (the last of which were written when Gogol was 25; The Inspector General, by contrast, was written at the ripe old age of 26) as "juvenilia" which are emphatically not "the real Gogol," and pays little more than lip service to any of Gogol's other acclaimed short stories. The one other slightly irritating aspect of Nabokov's book that I can think of is that in the long passages that he quotes he insists on interjecting his own comments [in brackets] mid-sentence, thus ruining the flow of the prose that he took the trouble of translating so very well.

But these are all minor quibbles, and I hope you won't let them discourage you. Nabokov makes his point very entertainingly and very well, and although it might have been nice if he'd broadened his study to more of Gogol's work, his discussions of Gogol's three most important works are really excellent. Since it would be hard for me to think of a 20th-century author more suited to writing about Gogol than Nabokov, I had high expectations for this book, and I was not at all disappointed.

In this short, witty book about Nikolai Gogol, Nabokov captures perfectly the most important aspect of his writing: the dreamlike, irrational, surrealistic absurdity. My favorite book of all time is Gogol's "Dead Souls" (translated by Andrew R. MacAndrew, Signet Classics). Nabokov's book is a perfect tribute to Gogol. I haven't even read "The Inspector-General"- now I'm going to. At the time Nabokov wrote this book, there apparently weren't good English translations of "Dead Souls" so there is a somewhat pessimistic or despondent feeling that an English-speaker wouldn't be able to access Gogol. I don't speak Russian, so I can't vouch for this translation, but I have a feeling it would be all right with Nabokov. Anyway, this is a wonderful book.

It can be a bit discouraging to open The Other Side of the Moon and find a page devoted to the Cast of Characters that reads like a family tree. But don't let it divert your attention from this book.

Every character plays an important role in the way the story comes together. It is an adventure through many mysterious and exotic lands. Croydon Bates sets off to discover the secrets of his past and, along the way, discovers the secrets his family has hidden.

Croydon is haunted by visions of his dead mother. His great grandfather helps him understand these mysteries and helps him locate Croydon's estranged father.

As more characters are introduced, the narration changes points of view but the storylines continue to play off each other well like pieces of a puzzle coming together. The Cast of Characters list in the beginning of the book can come in handy when jumps in narration are made because the story flashes back from past to present so much and the characters take on new names from their reincarnations and past lives as these dimensional travels take place.

This novel themes around Christianity, reincarnation and the links between the teachings of Christianity and other religious beliefs. It also demonstrates how when one evil is expelled another evil will spawn in the world's cycle. Croydon tries to break the cycle and save them all from destruction and restore the world order.

The Other Side of the Moon is likely to break your aversion to the sci-fi genre so dip a toe into a distinctive piece of fiction with this novel.

Deftly written by Vladimir Chernozenmsky, the Bulgarian-American author of "The Lion of the Balkans", The Other Side of the Moon is a fascinating and imaginative novel about the transmigration of human souls throughout history, from the Pharaohs who ruled Egypt in days of yore, to the rise of Christianity and the tumult of the new millennium. An emotional, forceful, sometimes disturbing tale of the best and worst of human nature through the ages, The Other Side of The Moon is a unique and attention engaging read from first page to last.

Vapnik and Chernovenkis extended the Glivenko-Cantelli Theorem in their work on classification and statistical learning. Vapnik in recent texts has described a form of nonparametric statistical inference based on approximating functions and the Vapnik-Chernovenkis dimension.

In an earlier book published by Springer-Verlag he develops the basics of the theory. However to keep the mathematical level excessible to computer scientists and engineers he avoided the mathematical proofs needed for mathematical rigor. This text is an advanced text that provides the rigorous development. Although the preface and chapter 0 give the reader a idea of what is to come the rest of the text is difficult reading.

The theory has been quite successful at attacking the pattern recognition/ classification problem and provides a basis for understanding support vector machines. However Vapnik sees a much broader application to statistical inference in general when the classical parametric approach fails.

If you have a strong background in probability theory you should be able to wade through the book and get something out of it. If not I recommend reading section 7.9 of "The Elements of Statistical Learning" by Hastie, Tibshirani and Friedman. That will give you an easily understandable view of the VC dimension. Also sections 12.2 and 12.3 of their text will give you some appreciation for support vector machines and the error rate bounds obtainable for them based on the VC dimension.

This book aims at rigorours and deep treatment of statistical learning and is divided into three parts :

(I)THEORY OF LEARNING AND GENERALIZATION;

(II)SUPPORT VECTOR ESTIMATION OF FUNCTIONS;

(III)STATISTICAL FOUNDATION OF LEARNING THEORY'

For anyone intending to dive into this topic intriguing readers shull find their task rather not simple when exploring this mathematical exposition.This is because of the mature nature behind the basic theory .In order to gain most of the benefit ,interested and even involved researchers are urged and should assume all the requirements for a vast and solid mathematical background.

I Think the book constitutes a respectful and organized 'exhibition' that you will not find in any other place. Althought there are excellent books discussing SVMs and Machine-Learning/ Intelligence,eventually all emenate from the theory.Regarding the book rating it is was not rated upon how much you retrieve as concepts, but how well the propositions offer a precious appreciation of the substantial theory.In otherwords, this book is not the place for a first time learning, but it is serves as a bridge between interrelated elements of such incredibly growing area.

For the book: "The Nature of Statistical learning Theory" also by Vapnik you can find a review by Vladimir Cherkassky in The IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS VOL. 8, NO. 6, NOVEMBER 1997 .

While mostly confined to the movie posters that the Stenberg Brothers produced in the early years of the Soviet Union, this book still includes enough general history to help the reader view them in the context in which they were produced. Well-illustrated (most illustrations are in full color) with easy to comprehend text, this would be a valuable volume for anyone interested in graphic design. It will also appeal to students of the Constructivist movement.

There have been many great graphic artists in the past several decades. In my opinion, The Stenberg Brothers produced some of the finest graphical works of art in this Century. The Stenberg Brothers lived and produced their Art in 1920's...and 1930's. Fueling the Soviet propaganda machine. Look beyond the thorns of the Soviet era propaganda machine. If you are a true graphic artist, you will definately appreciate the fantastic talents of the Stenberg Brothers and Soviet-era art. The Stenbergs were Masters of the Graphic Arts. This book should not be listed as a "book". Rather, it should be listed as an artists' portfolio. This "portfolio" of Soviet artwork is a MUST for everyone with an interest in appreciating the graphic arts. The Stenberg Brothers were truly MASTERS of their medium. This BOOK is packed FULL of high quality, premium-paper-stock reproductions of the best works these brothers have ever produced. I recommend it wholley!

Ada or Ardor defies facile description. It is a novel of love, incest, cultural collision, fantasy, eroticism, psychology and metaphysics. Primarily, however, the novel is a strange sort of prose-puzzle that weaves all of these topics-and others-into a word-maze with no obvious solution. The novel seems to be about itself, the pleasure of its aesthetics and the gamesmanship and playfulness of its prose.

To those who come to this book having read Lolita, Pale Fire, Pnin, or other Nabokov books, this is, to a certain degree, no surprise. What may come as some surprise is the sheer relentlessness of it. Ada exists in a world apart, a world constructed from the dreams and fantasies of the author. This otherness informs every aspect of the novel, transmogrifying a story of love and incest into something seemingly larger, yet ineffable.

To a degree, this makes the book largely inaccessible to Nabokov-neophytes. Although still a pleasure to read, it is hard for me to imagine anyone appreciating Ada to its fullest without having experienced Lolita or puzzled over Pale Fire. To be sure, this is no great debit and the book works well without completely necessitating familiarity with Nabokov's idiomatic prose, but if you're so inclined, go back and read some of his other books, you'll approach Ada with a greater ability to appreciate its mastery of style.

My attitude towards the real nature of Ada has changed with time and "distance" from my original reading. When I first read it, I was seduced by the novel's fictional "authors" Ada and Van Veen. On the surface it is the romantic and dashing story of two incestuous lovers, whose love overcame all obstacles. Ada and Van, who write their own story, are far from objective portrayers of their own story, polishing to a sheen their own virtues and talents, while almost obscuring their moral depravity and cruelty. Those who fall by the wayside, are written off by the couple, and made to play bit parts supporting their "grand romance".

Coming back to the novel ten years later, I can see why Nabokov said "I despise Van Veen",the novel's "hero". In fact, the Veens are much subtler Humberts, but much more effective. While few readers would gush about the romantic Humbert, it is easy to brush of Van and Ada's faults,and "buy in" to their interpretations of

their lives. Now, with maturity, I see that Nabokov presented me with a story of moral depravity, daring me to find the true story behind the Veens'gloss,and to use my independent moral judgement.

In his "Strong Opinions" Nabokov suggested that future generations may come tounderstand him as a fierce moralist. This is not easy to see, because most of his narrators are in fact depraved. In Lolita, King Queen Knave, Ada, and Pale Fire, this is very much the case. Nabokov was a moralist in the negative sense. He typically showed the immoral, and assumed that his readers would draw the appropriate conclusions. Like an artist who charcoals a canvas, and draws with an eraser. He was probably amused that leftist literary types in America liked Lolita BECAUSE of Humbert's depravity, and felt more disdain for the American motels and roadside diners described in the novel than they did for Humbert's actions.

The novel gets only four stars, because I didn't like it as much as Pale Fire or Invitation to A Beheading. The novel was unnecessarily difficult, which was of course part of the purpose of the Veens, but Nabokov created them, so he still gets some blame. For moralistic books I much prefer a positive rather than a negative presentation, in the way that Ayn Rand presents morality in The Fountainhead, or Atlas Shrugged.

"Ada" is an unconventional, sci-fi fantasy (no rockets and spaceships here, don't worry) firmly rooted in the late 19th and early 20th century Russia of Nabokov's birth, that takes place on a planet called Antiterra 'parallel' to 'our Earth' which is called Terra. Things have happened there in somewhat similar yet oddly different ways than on Terra (earth), including the fact that the Russian and American land masses are connected.

This set-up allows Nabokov as wide a scope as possible to dig into his own memories and also for prose excursions into uncharted territory. "Ada" is certainly his most comprehensive and difficult novel, and definitely his greatest after "Lolita" ("Pale Fire" die-hards can disagree all they want, but they probably haven't taken the time to delve deep enough into "Ada").

"Ada" is also Nabokov's own twist on Proustian memory investigations. It is being written as 'memoirs' by his main character: Van Veen, but also includes certain intrusions by Ada Veen, who is with him as he's writing it (during the time they spend their old age together after years of separation). So, often, especially in the first third or so of the book, two perspectives of the past are provided. Two memories remember certain things they both experienced or saw, each from its special perspective, and sometimes one adds things the other may have forgotten. Towards the end of the book, Nabokov uses Van's slightly demented but deeply observant writings about the nature of Time to capsulize the thought processes that made Van write these memoirs in this 'odd' way.

The main event in Van's memoirs is his secret incestuous relationship with Ada, who is his half-sister. Van is in love with Ada who loves him back and their love affair affects the whole course of their lives. Years later, Ada's younger sister Lucette also falls in love with Van, whose love he doesn't reciprocate because he still loves Ada. In addition Ada and Lucette have had a secret Lesbian relationship since they were young girls. Van is at various times a university student and part-time masked circus acrobat, a psychologist, a novelist, and a lecturer in philosophy. He also seems to be addicted to brothels (especially when away from Ada). An unsuccessful sci-fi novel he writes, "Letters from Terra," unexpectedly and years after its initial publication, is made into a hit movie by a famous director.

There's very little that's strictly linear in this book. The best way to look at it is as a gigantic puzzle, the pieces of which are gradually falling into place.

Nabokov uses super-long Proustian sentences to put in every detail he can think of and simultaneously provide wide-scoped connections. The longer paragraphs are universes of their own. They have their own little stories and 'sensual delights' going on in them, which no mere cursory examination can reveal. Rereading is a must.

This is what usually happened when I was reading: first of all, I definitely had to take a paragraph by paragraph approach (the book's too complex not to require constant rereading as you're going through it). Upon first reading a complicated paragraph, I was often confused (had to skip the long parentheses and come back and reread them, etc.), on second reading a bit more lucid and fascinated, on the third I would often start laughing, on the fourth I'd often become enchanted. That's right, sometimes it takes four readings to even begin to get the drift of the man's wit, but it's hard work that pays off 'big-time.' And every so often, a paragraph doesn't mean much and is just clever wordplay for esoteric readers to figure out. You can ignore some of those, but don't let it become a habit.

As for the endlessly annoying eccentricities sprinkled throughout "Ada"? Well, you either appreciate Nabokov's brand of esoterica or you don't, but that doesn't mean the book is ruined by them---far from it---they're a spice you can take or leave according to your taste. This book is his widest in scope and he allows himself every indulgence he can think of, he covers all his 'bases,' so to speak. There are fantastic passages in here that he could never have written if he had stayed more restrained.

The book is filled to the brim with sex. Not only do Ada and Van as adolescents have sex up to 4 times a day but they still have an appetite for outside lovers. Only on Antiterra does this lack of repression and complete insatiability co-exist in an environment that is, in other respects, quite similar to late 19th century Terra (Earth).

Later on we find out that Antiterra has somehow bypassed 'modernism' and the tragedies of 20th century Terra (Earth), with its world wars and dictators and carnage. The Antiterrans are fascinated by the sci-fi film "Letters from Terra" based on Van's book, because it deals with the crazy events that happened on that odd planet. Vitry's hit film actually comes very close to describing the actual events that took place on Terra (Earth). Here, Nabokov mocks the absurd history of 20th century Terra (Earth) by making it a subject for a sci-fi film on Antiterra.

The main characters aren't exactly 'sympathetic' but not necessarily 'immoral' either (as some readers feel it more comfortable to label them). They're a bunch of erudite, stuck-up, pompous Ameri-Russian aristocrats with their quirks and neuroses and perversions, some of them (like Ada and Lucette) more likable than others (Van and Demon), but none without quite a bit of experience in what would be called 'sinful' behavior by Christians. However, no mention is ever made of a Christian morality dominating on 'Antiterra' where the story takes place. And if some readers base their label of 'immorality' only on Van and Ada's incestuous romance (or Ada and Lucette's lesbianism), it is not a closed case at all. How much are Van and Ada hurting themselves or others? They love each other deeply, there's no age-difference manipulation going on like Humbert's with Lolita, they don't plan on having any children that might come out deformed (Van's even sterile), they're not influenced by how society might view them, so what's the big deal? Certainly no one would call it 'immoral' if they had been separated and met by chance, not knowing they were related? The only way they can be hurt (or hurt others in their family) is through social ostracism. In fact, that necessary discomfort in maintaining secrecy is their only real hurt. Van's endless philandering over the years (engaged in mainly when separated from Ada) with numerous young prostitutes is much more degrading and 'immoral' than his 'pure' case of incest with Ada. And Ada and Lucette's Lesbianism? There's not much manipulation there either. It's mutually engaged in for mutual pleasure. Of course the great thing is that all this is can be seen as one big Nabokovian joke on the hypocrisy, philistinism, and superficiality of some or even most of his readers (who simultaneously love his books but reserve their praise because they don't know how to deal with the 'immoral' or wretched characters). Far from trying for some easy 'moral message', Nabokov uses these 'unsympathetic' and semi-grotesque setups because, as he mentions in "Strong Opinions," he likes to "compose riddles with elegant solutions." Once the elegant solutions are found the work transcends any superficial considerations such as 'sympathetic characters.'

To stay detached, understand and laugh at all of society's hypocrisies, and through art, expose, ridiculte and transcend them: this is not easy. Many are pretentious enough to try it but only a few ever succeed. Nabokov succeeds so well, it's SCARY. Even the people who call what he does high-brow pornography are forced to realize how high a brow they're dealing with.

Well, if you've read Nabokov's books before, you'd know what I mean. His writing style is definitely more...um...appetizing than most. Yes, it's not easy reading. I found myself rereading some sections to make sure I hadn't missed anything. If you love reading well-written books, this is one of your options. Now, the downside.

I didn't find Pnin particularly interesting. Yes, he was funny and his missteps are classic. I could see a comical but warm movie out of this. Still, I found myself looking for more substance, more...story. It seemed a bit boring with no particular point, just a period in Pnin's life. That may have been Nabokov's intent all along but it could've been a more interesting part of Pnin's life.

In conclusion, this book is great reading if you need to be stimulated by writing style and new/fresh words. It will challenge your comprehension and give you a bit of satisfaction when you're able to understand exactly what Nabokov is saying. The subject itself, though funny, fails to keep me particularly interested. It appears to lead you to a point or destination. Instead, it just takes you on a journey, apparently aimless and ending a bit anticlimatically. All in all, this book is worth reading if you enjoy Nabokov, but don't expect a captivating tale.

With Pnin, Nabokov does what he has done elsewhere -- he spoofs middle-class, middle-century America, exploding its pretensions quite handily. But the subject matter here is a bit closer to home, as Pnin deals with the plight of Russian expatriates adrift in exile after the Revolution. One imagines Nabokov identified more than a little with his lovable, excitable protagonist, and at times the satire parts to reveal aching sadness.

The last two pages of Chapter Five, in which Pnin ruminates on the memory of a lost love who died in World War II, contain some of my favorite writing in the English language. I will quote here an exquisite paragraph:

"Pnin slowly walked under the solemn pines. The sky was dying. He did not believe in an autocratic God. He did believe, dimly, in a democracy of ghosts. The souls of the dead, perhaps, formed committees, and these, in continuous session, attended to the destinies of the quick."

In passages such as this, Nabokov walks an astonishing tightrope between caustic comedy and heartbreaking tragedy.

Pnin is a lovely book, and it reminded me of Seinfeld in ways more than one.

Don't look for a George, a Jerry or an Elaine; maybe you can find some Kramer in Mr Eccentricity - Timofey Pnin himself. But the absence of a plot and the constant, guilty smirk I had on my face (with the occasional laugh sprinkled in) reminded me of the times I spent in front of the TV watching my favorite TV Show Seinfeld.

The story is of Pnin, a Russian emigre in Paris, and later Eastern US in the 50s struggling to teach in a mid-sized liberal arts college. He certainly does not fit in anywhere except his research and the reader's heart, and the dissapointments he faces with his guardian angel in his department do not really cancel each other out.

Nabokov is a terribly funny guy, and the way he makes fun of 50s acedemia is quite applicable to anyone who has spent some time with research fellows in any US college. His play on words, and his play on a foreigner struggling in America is nicely crafted so that no bitter taste is left in your mouth afterwards.

Highly recommended, but please do not look for Lolita...